BlueRoom Launches New EF88 Aligned Game Controller
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
BlueRoom Simulations is proud to announce the launch of its new EF88-aligned mixed reality game controller, developed in partnership with Aurora Labs in Perth, Western Australia.
This marks an important step forward for BlueRoom’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training capability and a broader milestone in the development of Australian sovereign capability in immersive simulation.
The new controller has been designed to improve realism, handling, and training relevance inside the BlueRoom environment, while also establishing a local pathway for adaptive manufacturing and future platform-specific controller development.
Built with Aurora Labs
To deliver this next generation capability, BlueRoom partnered with Aurora Labs, another Australian company with strong expertise in advanced and adaptive manufacturing.
This partnership is a significant achievement in its own right. By working with an Australian manufacturing partner, BlueRoom has been able to move beyond generic off-the-shelf controller formats and develop a bespoke solution tailored to the needs of its platform and customers.
The result is not just a new controller. It is the beginning of a more flexible and locally supported capability for designing and refining physical interfaces for mixed reality simulation.
Supporting sovereign capability
This collaboration also highlights the importance of building sovereign Australian capability in emerging training technologies.
Rather than relying entirely on imported hardware designed for other applications, BlueRoom and Aurora Labs have worked together to create a solution that is locally developed, locally supported, and aligned to Australian user requirements.
That matters from both a capability and industry perspective. It strengthens BlueRoom’s ability to iterate, improve, and adapt its training interfaces over time, while also supporting Australian expertise in advanced manufacturing and simulation technology.
Enabling adaptive manufacturing for future platforms
One of the most important outcomes of this partnership is the creation of a foundation for future adaptive manufacturing. By establishing a local design and manufacturing pathway, BlueRoom is better positioned to develop new controller formats for different customer requirements and training environments in the future. This opens the door to more tailored physical interfaces across different operational contexts, rather than being limited to a single generic controller design.
That flexibility is increasingly important as mixed reality training becomes more sophisticated and customers seek solutions that are better aligned to their own platforms, procedures, and operating environments.
A new chapter in BlueRoom training realism
Since launching its TCCC capability, BlueRoom has continued to refine how physical interaction works inside mixed reality training. The new EF88-aligned controller is an important step in improving that realism for Australian Defence oriented training use cases. Designed to provide a more appropriate form factor, ergonomics, and handling experience, it helps strengthen the connection between physical movement and immersive learning. This supports a more realistic and operationally relevant training environment for users working in tactical casualty care and related mission-focused scenarios.
Why controller fidelity matters in mixed reality training
In BlueRoom’s training environment, physical interaction is not separate from the simulation experience, it is a core part of it. Users are required to move, handle equipment, respond to stressors, and perform practical tasks inside dynamic immersive scenarios. In this context, the quality of the physical training interface has a direct impact on immersion, confidence, and the realism of the learning experience.
BlueRoom found that the earlier generation of controllers created three key limitations.
1. Reduced physical realism
The original controllers were lightweight and did not provide the same sense of mass, balance, and handling resistance expected in more realistic mission-oriented training.
In TCCC scenarios, that matters. Learners are often required to transition between multiple tasks while managing equipment under pressure. Where the physical interface feels too light or artificial, part of the realism of that training environment is lost.
2. Tracking and alignment limitations
BlueRoom also identified opportunities to improve tracking consistency and alignment performance. In mixed reality, the relationship between what the user sees and what they physically hold is critically important.
Small inconsistencies in tracking or calibration can interrupt immersion and reduce confidence in the training experience. Improving the quality of the controller interface therefore became important not only for realism, but also for overall system performance.
3. Better alignment to customer needs
As BlueRoom expanded into more specialised defence and operational training contexts, it became increasingly important that the physical training interface better reflect the platforms and use cases relevant to each customer.
For Australian users in particular, this created demand for a controller format more closely aligned to the EF88 platform and associated training environments. Improving that alignment supports a more coherent and operationally relevant user experience inside the simulator.
The Mixed Reality challenge
Developing a better solution required more than simply sourcing another commercial controller.
Mixed reality presents a different design challenge from conventional virtual reality. In a virtual reality-only system, the user primarily engages with a fully digital world, and the controller functions mainly as a tracked input device.
In mixed reality, the user interacts with both real physical hardware and virtual content at the same time. That means the training interface must perform well not only as a controller, but also as a believable and well-aligned physical object within the user’s field of view and movement.
That places greater importance on form factor, weight distribution, ergonomics, and tracking stability than many standard off-the-shelf controller solutions are designed to provide.
Developed for compliant & legal simulation use
BlueRoom also needed to ensure that any new physical interface was appropriate and legal for its intended use in controlled training and simulation environments.
This meant pursuing a solution specifically developed to ensure it would not be a restricted item i line with both state and federal regulations. This made reliance on existing commercial systems impractical
